Hey what's up Protege fans, I'm new to this site. I had an important question, and I'm hoping someone out there can help me. I own a 2000 Protege ES with an automatic transmission, but the auto kinda sucks. I sort of wish I'd held out and bought a manual equipped car, but too late for that now. Anyways, I thought it would be awesome to swap the transmission out, but I'm concerned cause I'm not the greatest mechanic, and I have a bad feeling trying to install a manual transmission would be a helluva lot of work. I was wondering if it would possible to install the manu-matic transmission from the Protege5 or the 2.0 liter Mazda3 in my Protege. Any idea if that would be an easier swap (or even possible)? If so, any guesses as to where I can get this transmission, and how much is it going to cost? I thank you in advance for anyone with any info on this topic!

 

I'm no expert when it comes to this but I'm almost 100% sure it wouldn't work because the P5 has a 2.0L engine and yours is a 1.8. I don't think those two would mix too good, but even if it would work I don't think you'd really want to try. I have a manumatic or whatever you call it, and it really doesn't make a big difference. If you really wanted to go through all the trouble, which would be a lot ..., then just stick with a manual. Be prepared to pay a lot of money for labor though, cuz if you can't do it yourself it's gonna cost ya!

You're probably looking at around $600 or so for just the transmission and probably about as much for labor. Not to mention you would probably need to spend some money on a new clutch, flywheel, etc ...

Overall, not worth it. Stick with the auto, buy a manual beater car and enjoy the Protege for what it is ... an economical car that's FUN to drive!

 

Thanks for the post Krayzie Fox. Jeez, I don't think my topic was up for 5 minutes when you responded! So, you think I should just suck it up and keep the auto eh? You're probably right, I could just get a manual on my next car in a couple of years. Do you or anyone else out there know what improvements I could make to get the most out of the auto? I really want to make this into a handling car, so I'm gonna need some wider wheels and a better suspension. Is the auto going to detract from the car's ability to corner and handle an autocross course?

 

No way, it'll make it better actually. You don't have to worry about shifting while you're focusing on cornering, unless you're a really good manual driver. If you wanna make it better handling, invest in some Tokico struts. The HP Blues are a pretty good pick, and match them with the Eibach Pro-Kit ... and you've got a winner. There's more out there than that, but it would be a good start.

If you wanna try to get some more power out of it, I think Gary (Kargoboy) has an upcoming group buy going on for the Thunder header. I believe it's one of the few that will fit on a 1.8L. Hit him up with a PM for prices and more info. Besides that find a nice exhaust and pickup any type of intake for a total gain of ... maybe 15 or so HP. Just make sure you get a good air filter if you decide to go with an aftermarket intake, there's no need to spend lots of money on bent pipes, so eBay can be your friend there but all the cheap intakes have crap filters.

That's really all I got for ya unless you wanna run boost ... in which case I'm completely clueless.

 

So, Thunder makes a header for the 1.8 liter? Good to know, but is it compatible with a catalytic converter? If not, I'm screwed, cause California law requires all cars to be equipped with catalytic converters (my state is freakin obsessed with emissions control). I looked into DC Sports' upcoming headers for the Protege, but they eliminate the converter as well.
Anyways, I've already installed a Flowmaster 60 series exhaust and an AEM cold air intake (my friend and I actually did the installs ourselves, I'm so proud!) I'm guessing I got an additional 10 horsepower or so. High RPM power improved, but I'm still lacking in the low end, which would benefit from headers.
Thanks for the suspension tips. I think I'd better start with the wheels first- the base 15" alloys are fairly good looking, but I think they're too narrow and don't fill out the wheel wells. I was thinking 17" 7.5 wheels would be sweet, if they fit. Most of the good light weight wheels are too expensive for me though, so I was thinking of finding some used 16" wheels from the previous generation Miata; it's a decent enough +1 upgrade, the bolt pattern fits, and it won't destroy my savings account. That is if I can even find them used...
Thanks again for your posts KrayzieFox!